Quickening pace

Many a good thing is arriving in the trap now that April is a third gone, with wonderful sunny weather over the weekend doing similar things for our local butterflies. How lovely to see Brimstones and Orange Tips wafting about in great abundance, with the occasional Peacock and Small Tortoiseshell winging its way more powerfully by.

I've yet to persuade a male Orange Tip - the sex with the actual orange - or a Brimstone to stop long enough for a photograph. But my top four pictures show a Peacock - one of the UK's very finest butterflies even though common - and a female Orange Tip.  As for the moths, here are four delightful newcomers for the year:

Chinese Character

Purple Thorn

Swallow Prominent

I've played host to a trio of pug moths, little scrappy mites but often with complex and interesting wing patterns. I asked for help on the superlative Upper Thames Moths blog, and here are the IDs:

V-pug (from the arrowhead on its wings)

Oak-tree Pug (the trap was under an oak)

Double-striped Pug

Finally, the UTB gurus also helped me out with this overnighter, another new-for-the-year. It's a very nice Powdered Quaker - a paradoxically-named moth as Quakers historically, generally didn't go in for make-up.